


Popcorn

by Sys



Category: Elementary (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-18
Updated: 2019-01-18
Packaged: 2019-10-12 07:36:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17463305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sys/pseuds/Sys
Summary: Joan's had a bit of a bad day. But there is a cure?





	Popcorn

**Author's Note:**

  * For [alexcat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexcat/gifts).



> Hi! If you received this story and don't like it, please just let me know. (Something along the lines of "No thanks" will do nicely. I'll be happy to remove it, so it's not associated with you any longer.) I hope you're having a fantastic New Year and that you and yours are safe, happy and healthy and remain thus.

She’s making popcorn while he’s washing and slicing vegetables. 

The silence’s cutting. But just a little. It’s difficult to remember why he thought having a birthday outing with her family might be a good idea. But ignoring your family’s not really working for him. And it definitely isn’t, for her. It wasn’t even as bad as it might’ve been. She’d looked genuinely happy about the DVD box Oren gave her. And her mother... well that part really was to be expected. Watson’s not the sort of person who’d be comfortable ignoring someone when they’ve become difficult. If she was, she’d left him the moment he’d signalled that it’d be okay for her to leave. 

But he remembers the silent trip back home. The look of defeat in her eyes when they’d made it back to the Brownstone. How the silence had stretched when she’d set aside her keys. Taken off her coat and the new scarf. And placed her newly acquired DVDs beside the telly. He’d taken off his own coat and slipped into a more comfortable shirt. Before heading to the kitchen to find her busy with the popcorn maker...

He finishes up one last carrot and arranges everything on a tray. Doesn’t really meet her eyes when she glances at his tray and picks out two glasses and a bottle of orange juice. Wordlessly adds them to his tray before she picks up the popcorn bowl. Neither of them addresses walking towards the telly. Or the way she takes a short glance at the box and picks out a specific DVD from the mix of different possibilities. 

It’s not a Mets game, he reminds himself. That’s a good start. And after a few minutes he might be okay re-reading one of his cold cases to see if anything new jumps out. But for the moment... it’ll do both of them some good to eat without feeling observed. And they make short work of the vegetables in a matter of a few minutes, with the popcorn bowl resting comfortably by her feet. 

And finally he gets the joke, belatedly. When she passes him her bowl and proudly gestures to the telly. The thought that she knows the show well enough to prepare for that joke... maybe Oren did have a good reason to give it to her... and really it’s not that bad, considering. Maybe it’ll provide a nice background noise to whatever they’re currently working on. And maybe, maybe he’ll even bother following the plot as it unfolds.

 

By the third episode she’s clearly back in whatever pleasant time she originally watched this in. Any trays and bowls long forgotten, he couldn’t be happier with her legs across his lap. Nor could he resist stroking her knees. Slowly exploring both further up and down. Really who cares about the odd make up and alien names? If that makes her happy... he’ll be content to divide his attention between the plot and the explorations that are so enthusiastically encouraged.


End file.
